MORGANGTOWN — The United Mine Workers of American said Friday it’s time for President Trump to acknowledge he’s lost and Joe Biden is president-elect. The union is concerned that Trump’s continued efforts are taking a wrong turn.
UMWA President Cecil Roberts said in a statement: “I have watched with growing concern the actions of the Trump campaign and the president himself in their effort to overthrow the will of the American people and claim some sort of victory in the face of the overwhelming vote of the American people for President-elect Biden.”
Roberts said there’s nothing wrong with a candidate seeking recounts and proper legal recourse, but none of that has changed anything.
“But now something sinister is occurring,” Roberts said. “The president and his campaign have largely given up the legal battle and are putting pressure on state elections officials and legislators to deny the verdict of the voters and overturn their democratic rights. This is a threat to our entire form of government and the American way of life.”
Roberts references the Trump campaign’s efforts to have some state legislatures in state’s he’s lost nonetheless appoint Trump electors. Trump’s campaign attorneys have also alleged that Dominion Voting Systems and its rival Smartmatic are both products of Communist conspiracies to flip Trump votes to Biden – although Trump won in several states employing Dominion technology and the lawyers have yet to present actual evidence in court.
For fairness, we note that even conservative outlets such as National Review are not buying the Trump argument at this point. One writer said, “If you put your faith in President Trump’s claim of a presidential election stolen through massive alteration of votes through the use of voting software, and in the legal skills of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, I am sorry to tell you that you have been conned.” And the Review’s editors said “This is a profoundly undemocratic gambit that, if it were to enjoy any success, would precipitate a major constitutional crisis. … He’s turning a narrow election defeat into a bid for infamy.”
Back to Roberts, he said, “I, along with hundreds of thousands of other veterans, did not go off to fight our country’s wars so that the very foundation of what actually does make America great – government of, by and for the people – could be subverted. That is the path the President’s campaign is on now. It cannot stand. … Whether you like the outcome or not, the American people have spoken, and their will must now be placed ahead of everything else.”
Roberts noted that the UMWA – which typically leans Democratic – didn’t endorse either candidate this time. He didn’t say why, though abundant media reports show the Biden/Harris ticket flip-flopping on fossil fuels, sometimes supporting and sometimes not Green New Deal-type measures. Biden’s most recent statements say he wants to transition from the oil industry and end federal oil subsidies and promote carbon capture technology.
Roberts said, “Our members voted for the candidate of their choice – some voted for President Trump, and some voted for President-elect Biden. They, like an unprecedented number of American voters, had their say. And they recognize that it is time to move on and get with the business of ending the coronavirus pandemic, bringing our economy back to life and helping those who have lost everything to get back on their feet.”
Roberts said the UMWA will support Biden when it can and oppose him when it must. “That is the long tradition of this great union no matter who is in the White House, and we will carry it onward.”
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